HELP! P-90 Buzz is Killing my R6!

[jonnymangia]

As most of you know I hooked up a gorgeous R6 last week. She sounds great, but the buzz from the P90's is getting out of control. I'm playing her through a Traynor Blue YCV50 combo amp. The strange thing is that I took the R6 to GC yesterday and played her through a Peavey CLassic 20 as well as an old JCM 800 stack - NO BUZZ and the R6 sounded killer. So what could be the cause of the buzzing at home with the Traynor?

[sosomething]

The Traynor.

[Robert S.]

Poor grounding in your electrical source. I have bad juice at my house and all my amps are noisey.

[sosomething]

Oh. Yeah. Or that.

Can anyone tell me why when I play through my amp it all sounds sloppy with wrong notes and bad timing?

[jonnymangia]

For what it's worth the amp does not buzz when I turn it on. However, once the P90 guitar goes in....forget it. Also, my humbucker gtrs don't have the same issue so it has to be the P90's.

[Imp]

could be your lead in that case dude?

tom

[frankfalbo]

Nah it's just the environment. P-90's are hot singles, and single coils pick up any/all outside noise. So in your home you could have flourescent lights close by, perhaps you have "dirty AC power" powering your amp, or maybe there are other devices near you that have large transformers. I can't record near my rack. I have to stand 5 feet away or so with all the transformers in there. If you can make the noise reduce by rotating your body 360 degrees, then it's environmental, and perhaps shielding the P-90's would help.

[jonnymangia]

Nah it's just the environment. P-90's are hot singles, and single coils pick up any/all outside noise. So in your home you could have flourescent lights close by, perhaps you have "dirty AC power" powering your amp, or maybe there are other devices near you that have large transformers. I can't record near my rack. I have to stand 5 feet away or so with all the transformers in there. If you can make the noise reduce by rotating your body 360 degrees, then it's environmental, and perhaps shielding the P-90's would help.

rRank I think you nailed it. I remember at one point the other night I did twist my body and the buzz stopped. I was in an uncomfortable position so I turned some more and the howl came back.

What does shielding the P90's entail? Does it mess with the tonal character of the pups?

[frankfalbo]

It shouldn't. My favorite way to shield a P-90 is to check and see if there's enough play under the cover to just wrap the whole dang thing in copper tape. Some guys just wrap a thin strip around the coil and then put a top sheet over it. But the cover can usually accomodate a foil tape wrap. It's a little tighter, but it works. Anyway then you just make sure the pieces of tape are soldered together, and then soldered or jumper wired to the baseplate/shield. That's about it.

[Closed Eye]

rRank I think you nailed it. I remember at one point the other night I did twist my body and the buzz stopped. I was in an uncomfortable position so I turned some more and the howl came back.

What does shielding the P90's entail? Does it mess with the tonal character of the pups?

Yeah, when I owned a P-90 guitar I lived in my parents house on an Air Force Base. As you can imagine there was all kinds of electronic interference that just effed with the pickups and made that horrible "crickets" sound.

...it did teach me to turn the gain down though.

[WhoFan]

My room i play in seems to allow extra noise thru my guitar/amps...... i never figured out why.... but ya if i turn i can get rid of some of it.... my room is above the garage and my dad installed light tubes on the garage ceiling... under my bedroom floor really..... when he is out in the garage working the buzz is insane! I also wonder if the hydro cables out on the poles 40 feet from my bedroom window effect my guitar/amps.. it must

[JeffB]

You have discovered the annoyance that brought us the PAF a year after the original version of your guitar was released

Goes with the territory.

[jonnymangia]

This is obviously a problem that can be dealt with. I think of all the cats who play(ed) P90's at ear spliting volumes - Neil Young, Mike Ness, Pete Townsend, Iommi, Green Day etc - and their S*$& doesn't sound like a skinned cat. Time to look into shielding...

[Zhangliqun]

It shouldn't. My favorite way to shield a P-90 is to check and see if there's enough play under the cover to just wrap the whole dang thing in copper tape. Some guys just wrap a thin strip around the coil and then put a top sheet over it. But the cover can usually accomodate a foil tape wrap. It's a little tighter, but it works. Anyway then you just make sure the pieces of tape are soldered together, and then soldered or jumper wired to the baseplate/shield. That's about it.

The downside is that any shielding of the coil will alter the tone some, mainly softening the treble a bit. In some cases that could be a plus, but for most P90 lovers it isn't.

The P90 is about the noisiest pickup there is and unlike Fender singles, no-one has yet come out with a stack version that captures the tone. Kinman probably gets a million e-mails a day about when he's coming out with a stack P90.

[greendy123]

Another way buzz happens is with bad/cheaper instrument cables. When you use higher quality ones buzz doesn't happen as much.

[Zhangliqun]

This is obviously a problem that can be dealt with. I think of all the cats who play(ed) P90's at ear spliting volumes - Neil Young, Mike Ness, Pete Townsend, Iommi, Green Day etc - and their S*$& doesn't sound like a skinned cat. Time to look into shielding...

The Green Day guy uses P100's, the Gibson stack version of the P90. It sounded so dull and was so unpopular that they stopped making them 2 or 3 years ago.

On the other hand, even having said what I said about shielding, since I just opened my own P90 line, it wouldn't hurt for me to do a few shielding experiments of my own.

[Mephis]

As most of you know I hooked up a gorgeous R6 last week. She sounds great, but the buzz from the P90's is getting out of control. I'm playing her through a Traynor Blue YCV50 combo amp. The strange thing is that I took the R6 to GC yesterday and played her through a Peavey CLassic 20 as well as an old JCM 800 stack - NO BUZZ and the R6 sounded killer. So what could be the cause of the buzzing at home with the Traynor?

It's either the amp or the cables.

I can run alot of gain with enough volume to blow your ear drums and I get very moderate hum out of my P-90s.


Some times amps have a ground switch on the back? But before I comment on that let someone else solve the problem.

[TimmyPage]

Not to help you.. but my amp sounds pretty buzzy when im on the computer (doesnt help for recording does it..?). I have the same one as you.. wow... YAY!

..What settings do you use for a good tone? (mr.. toneologist)

[Lewguitar]

Poor grounding in your electrical source. I have bad juice at my house and all my amps are noisey.

That's probably what it is. Try rotating or moving your amp around the room and/or plugging it into another wall outlet.

Does your Traynor have a ground switch and did it originally have a two prong plug that was converted to a three prong?

It'd be nice if you could reverse the ground...sometimes that's what it takes to quiet down older amps. Not especially safe for onstage...but useful in the studio.

Lew

[gOgIver]

The Green Day guy uses P100's, the Gibson stack version of the P90. It sounded so dull and was so unpopular that they stopped making them 2 or 3 years ago.

Both.

"This is a total P-90 record,"